Dear Virginia, Santa Claus has been cancelled …

Microsoft has turned off its automated Santa Claus on MSN Messenger after it was caught out using "inappropriate language".

A conversation, which might have been set up to trip the program into responding the way it did, had "Santa Claus" responding to questions about eating pizza with comments on oral sex.When this news came out, Microsoft attempted to remove offensive language from the program's automated script.When this proved unsuccessful, it decided to simply remove it completely.Microsoft set up the Santa Claus agent at northpole@live.com to let children chat to Santa on Instant Messenger.